Indentifying a Deity?

6th

Ok this may seem like a silly (or even ignorant) question but I'll ask it anyway.

For those of you who work with Deity, when you first became aware of them how did you identify them? Did they make themselves know in such a way so that you had a name to go by?

I wont go into too much detail right now but resently I have been aware and even been in contact (to a degree) with what I believe is something more than the usual energies/spirits that I have come to be familiar with.

During meditations I have had this presence there when I would expect someone else to be there and though words have been spoken (and I'm sure hints given) I have not the experience to know what or who I am dealing with.

I can associate smells, feelings, personality traits with this energy and could even draw a rough picture.

Since being aware of it during meditations, other people have felt it around me and I have even seen it a few times when I am out and about doing daily things.

It is reasuring and in know way a negative discraction but I feel its my job to put a name on it as part of my journey ... thing is where to start?

6th

DublinEvents

What is the object and purpose of your meditations? Are you doing them to achieve power? Or just for spiritual spring cleaning? If there is any malicious intent behind your meditations, you could be in contact with the Devil. What did he say to you?

Shiminay

DublinEvents wrote:

If there is any malicious intent behind your meditations, you could be in contact with the Devil. What did he say to you?

[edit]I believe that you're in the wrong forum[/edit]

Nevyn

Kharn if you have an issue with a post use the reported post function,
personal abuse will not be tolerated on this forum.

Nevyn

DublinEvents the concept of the devil is a judaic one and had no place in pagansim.

Shiminay

I have issues with trolls and stupidity like that displayed by a poster, but your point is correct. I don't think someone who starts spouting on about the Devil on a Paganism forum deserves an apology though.

6th

DublinEvents wrote:

What is the object and purpose of your meditations? Are you doing them to achieve power? Or just for spiritual spring cleaning? If there is any malicious intent behind your meditations, you could be in contact with the Devil. What did he say to you?

I really have no idea how to respond to this? You seem to think that the reasons for meditation are very limited. I meditate on a daily basis as a way of just slowing down and getting some quiet time.

You would have to define what you mean by "the Devil" but thats for another thread ... in another forum. You also presume its a he?

As for what s/he said, I will keep that for myself for now in the hope that this threads gets some more appropriate responses.

6th

Ok I'd like to know about how others came about to know the Deity they work with but for now I'll give more info on what I have been experiencing.

I recently stumbled upon an energy which took an unhealthy interest in me and after a period of trying to figure it out I was given the sound advice of putting some serious distance between myself and it. When I went about doing this is wasnt as easy as I though until I felt a pressence behind me. This presence supported me and helped me and since then I have been more aware of "him".

As I said others have felt and glimpsed him around me and one person described him as being like Hagrad from Harry Potter (at this point I must apologise for what may seem like a casual approach to all this, thats not to be mistaken for a lack of respect). I have also seen this man in a smaller form almost like a dwarf but on one occasion I has him stand in a football field near my home at about 30'.

I can associate a few things with him:

He is unlike any sirit or energy I have come across before and I simply do not have the language t o discribe the feelings around him.

He does remind me on a sculpture lecturer I had in college but that is due to the role he played and air he had to him, they are also similar (vaguely) in appearance. My lectureer is still alive and this does not feel like a spirit guide though again I cant explain this.

During the mediation I did I walked through a wood, over a river and come to a building. I enter the building and into a room. Usually I would either be alone in the room or meet someone I know. This is a regular format. But this time this man was there. He was huge and filling a corner of the room. Surprise by him being there I did what I do, made a joke. I said "If i'd known you'd be here I would have made the room bigger", he smiled at me and then said "Sometimes you laugh when you should be listening". Nothing was said for the rest of it and we looked at each other.

When it was time for me to go I was gestrured to a box on a table to my left. Again this is normal for this as its usually where I receive a gift or sign. I open the box and inside was an acorn. I picked it up squeezed it in my hand and turned, walk out the door.

There have been a few other minor things but in a drema the otehr night he came into my dream, again he stood behind my left shoulder and said "Your a good lad, but you really should pay more attention to your dreams".

Other things I associate with him is a smell (almost sweet) of bark mulch and warm wood - I'm familiar with the smell of worked wood as I studied sculpture and mostly worked with wood. All of the feelings around him remind me of working with it.

I did a quick drawing below but after seing him I find it hard to focus on him.



btw the always has a huge chunk of wood in his right hand. I'd say its like a walking stick but its mre like a tree trunk.

Nevyn

That type of interaction would be common for me.
Chats and converstaions, questioning and rebuke sometimes gentle sometime not, and from little acorns great oak trees grow.

I would suggest that you take some time to consider the gift you were given, what it means, the symbolism of it and what it means to you.

6th

Will take all that on Board. I must say I was taken back by the familiarity of it and and the casualness of himself.

Nevyn

Lol sounds like he has been watching over you for a while.
Define casualness ?
You mean no choir of angles and glowing lights and making you wake in awe ?

6th

Thaedydal wrote:

Lol sounds like he has been watching over you for a while.

Who knows? The idea of Gods has never been somethigng I looked at ... things have always been people based for me.

Thaedydal wrote:

Define casualness? You mean no choir of angles and glowing lights and making you wake in awe ?

Kinda, I would have expected to feel small in the presense of such a person but like i said it had the same feel as being around one of my lecturers from college. Admittedly one I had a very good relationship with.

Nevyn

We don't bow down to our gods

It can be a very casual, intimate, comforting relationship like with in your case an father figure or an uncle or honoury uncle.

They become family and we become thier children.
So as well as love there is also the aspect of getting a good telling off.
I reckon you may take a few love taps from the club either over the head or to sweep the legs out from under you to make you sit still and think.

Son Goku

The picture sparked my interest, anyway........

6th wrote:

Looks like a Nordic wood/forest God. Although early Nordic, as in before Thor and Odin e.t.c. crystallised out as an independent pantheon. Closer to the original Tolkien-esque form of pre-Europe myths when the culture was a closer blend of Teutonic and Celtic.
At least that's how it looks to me.

6th

My knowledge on these things is very, very limited but I have the feeling he hasnt given his name so I have to get off my ass and do some homework.

I'd still love to hear about others and how they came to know theirs. I understand its personal so if no one shares thats fine.

Nevyn

Was the club so big it might need wheels on it

Reminds me of Dagda.

6th

More like a tree trunk than a club. Tbh I hadnt even thought of it as a club as it didnt strike me (no pun) as a weapon.

The Dagda does seem to fit with the discription and how he behaved but Son Guko hit on it with the forest/wood theme. The smell of bark and oak along with the acorn pointed me towards Robur but can find nothing much on him.

Its gonna be a long night!

6th

Looking at it now dagda's club was made of oak.

Also funny (not haha fuuny) that all of this started to come about after a trip to Ross very close to the Boyne Valley - an area Dagda is associated with.

Seems Dagda (acording to some sources) was born from an acorn.

Nevyn

Oh I would find it funny but then again I have an odd sense of humour but then again so to most Gods.

I would usggest that you tak ethe time to read as much as you can from the Tain and the orginal texts that survive
www.sacred-texts.com has a section on the myths and legends that might help.
http://www.google.com/custom?domains=www.sacred-texts.com&q=dagda&sitesearch=www.sacred-texts.com&sa=Search&client=pub-8617793260330971&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A000000%3BLC%3A000000%3BT%3A0000FF%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en

And there is always going straight to scource if you have opened a channel of communication then I suggest you use it.

6th

I'll read a bit first, I dont want to go back to him with a lazy attitude.

I would ask the questions "why me" and "why now" but I know they are silly questions that I wont get answers too.

Thanks for the imput

Nevyn

Because you are you.
Because it is needed.

6th

Damn ... there werent meant to be answers yet!

Nevyn

Nah, you just need better questions

Besides those arent your answers until you accept them for yourself.

scorplett

6th,
First, thats a great picture it is quite acomplised for you to adapt your ability to draw from meditations visions and dreams. It shows you have a better handle on what you are doing than you give yourself credit for.

Many, including myself, have found strong ties to local Deity, others connect through family ties, skills, interests, past lives, power animal ties etc
there does seem to be some tie of recognition already regarding the wood aspect. I would explore this first. The things that come to us first are often the most important and the strongest, hence whay they are recognised first.
With these things in mind, A few questions for you to answer for yourself

Is there any actual or historical link to a genus loci of where;
a)you live now
b)have lived for quite some time
c)have spent large amounts of time
d)family or those of your bloodline have lived or originated
e)those people close to you or have had major influance over you

also apply similar questions to indusry/craft/skills common to the above and so on.

Answering these questions may help you to close the net on your study area but may do nothing for you. At least you will be learning something on your way! And as you work your way through all possibillities you may come into contact with more experiances you wouldnt have done before.
Share your experiances where you can, think of it as comparing notes and you may find more confirmation and recognition than you would have thought.

I am curious as to what makes you sure that you are experiancing Deity? NOt that I doubt it mind!
There are many sorts of deital forms and beings and other interesting personallities. I guess it is really in the perception of the individual, for example, someone I know has close ties with dryad's and general tree spirits, but neither he nor I would see them as Deities, even though he behaves with them as he or I would with Deity. That said others would consider dryads deital beings. Therefore it really comes down to a decision by you, through experiancing this form, conversing with it/him, and researching what you can.

Even if you do not find a personofied name, this does not mean it is not Deity and just because you find a name that fits does not make it/him deity either!

6th

Thanks for the replys and guidance on this. I am now in a position where I feel comfortable in saying that I know who I am to work with and why them.

I looked at location and saw no reason for the tie, I looked at family and again nothing. It was only through readings alot (albeit in a short space of time), talking to others and taking time to reflect and talk to him directly that I realised that it is a relationship that works very well.

I'll be honest and say that at first I panicked a bit because I didnt know how I was supposed to act, what are the limits etc. but it was made very clear to me that it is not about doing stuff for this deity but doing things with him.

There are alot of similarities between him and me, and with people I have choosen to surround myself with in life. So it seems like a very natural pairing.

I'm happy with my starting point and even though I've spent years doing what I do, the difference is now I have someone there with me to offer a hand when needed ... even if its the back of it

Cheers again,

6th

Lou.m

All that happened in your experience is cultivated to suit your own mind perhaps? In that this experience was chosen because it means something to you and you only. The symbols and gifts would have to be different perhaps in someone elses mind to mean the same. Therefore i would suggest that what you feel or think it means is probably the way to go. And as for the deity it is worth remenbering that this too was an appearance tailored for your own mind and therefore it was made to be understood by you. The only people who know anything about a relationship are the people in it and sometimes they do not even know themselves.